#36 UCF Knights: College Football 77 in 77

The Central Florida Knights are a program on the rise, up and comers, exciting upstarts. You know what else gets me excited and upstarted? Former Playboy Playmate Shanna Marie McLaughlin, who got her MBA at UCF and did a photo shoot in the college football locker room. For more on her go here.

Enjoy that? Yes, I’m sure you did. Now that we got Miss July 2010 out of the way, let’s get to the football.

2011 was: mediocre and disappointing. The Knights firmly believed they deserved something better than 5-7; a bowl was the minimum expectations. They outscored their first two opponents 92-3, before going 2-7 in their next nine. A shame that a top ten defense went to waste with a 3-5 CUSA mark.

2012 will go smoothly if; UCF finds answers at OL and WR, they have the defense in place again, but only return 3 starters on offense. This is their last year in C-USA before they join the Big East, so they should play with a huge chip on their shoulder and something to prove. If they lead Conference USA in all the major defensive categories again, they’ll be solid.

2012 will be rough if: This team has some issues on offense, as you might have heard. The OL lacks depth, and it may take awhile for them to gel. Also, the D didn’t make the big stops needed in the 4th quarter last year and that’s why the Knights lost so many close games. The secondary has suffered some setbacks and will need to be re-tooled a bit.

Bottom Line: They should be better than .500 as 7-8 wins certainly looks likely. The conference is weak, and this team is really rock solid on the ends and up the middle on D. If Bortles can make a few more plays, to complement a should be strong running game…sounds like a winning formula to me.

A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB)You should too